How big should Byron become?

‘How much is enough’ is the question posed for an upcoming forum that will consider how Byron grows into the future.

The Community Alliance for Byron Shire (CABS) is hosting the event at the Byron Community Centre Cavanbah Room on Saturday July 7 from 10am till 1pm.

CABS president Matthew O’Reilly says his group is honoured that University of Sydney Professor Nicole Gurran has accepted an invitation to present. Other guests are still to be confirmed, he says.

Professor Gurran is an urban planner and policy analyst, whose research focuses on comparative urban planning systems and approaches to housing and ecological sustainability.

O’Reilly says, ‘CABS has continued to receive feedback from its member organisations and Byron Shire ratepayers that excessive development is undermining the spirit and integrity of the Byron community.

‘A one size fits all approach to planning as advocated by the NSW State Government is inappropriate in coastal village based communities such as Byron Shire.

‘The upcoming Draft Byron Residential Strategy and Draft Byron Employment Land Strategy will set the scene for development in the Shire for the next ten to twenty years.

‘If we don’t get the communities values, priorities and vision properly embedded in the planning framework we risk Byron becoming just another Tweed Heads, Ballina or the Gold Coast.

He added, ‘How we house the less well-off members of our community in the face of Air BnB, soaring rents and property prices and rampant tourism development is a wicked problem but if we fail Byron we will lose everything that makes our community so special.’

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